Sixty years in the frame

A devoted wife and mother; the dog lover who cares for her pets herself and a living witness to history, with personal memories of more superstars, statesman and sportsmen than anyone else in the world, Elizabeth II has been all these things.

Which is why the exhibition of 60 photographs currently on display at Windsor Castle is fascinating.

In honour of the Diamond Jubilee, the images document the fleeting candid moments and the Queen's personal involvement in the life of the nation through her many regional visits and tours to far-flung locations, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh.

Setting out in splendour for her coronation on June 2, 1953

In 1957, leaving for Derbyshire on one of hundreds of annual engagements with Prince Philip

The Queen, seen in 1974 arriving to start her annual summer holiday in Balmoral, has owned 30 corgis.

With Prince Charles at a polo match

A welcome diversion for a tireless head of state, who receives a box of official Whitehall papers to read every day except Christmas Day and Easter Sunday

The monarch has met almost all the most pre-eminent figures in modern history. She welcomed President John F Kennedy and his wife Jackie to Buckingham Palace in 1961

A keen follower of equestrian sports, the Queen attends the Derby (left) and watches the action at the Badminton Horse Trials in 1968 (right)

Watching a flypast of RAF Jaguars during her visit to RAF Coltishall, Norfolk, on November 17 2005

A service of thanksgiving for the monarch's 80th birthday in 2006

The Queen meets Lady Gaga following the Royal Variety Performance in Blackpool